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Will Chevrolet Volt Politics Disappear After November?

Conservative media have found the Chevrolet Volt an easy political target since before we named it our 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year, and they’re not giving up. General Motors held a breakfast for local Volt owners at a restaurant on the East River during New York International Auto Show press days, and over coffee and omelets, the buzz among about 20 local owners was Neil Cavuto planned yet another diatribe against the extended-range electric on his Fox Business show that evening.All conservatives are not falling in lockstep behind the Cavutos and Limbaughs of the world, however.Consider Jim Rowe, senior partner in a New York advertising and marketing agency, who attended the New York breakfast. He describes himself as a “fiscal conservative, social independent” who left the GOP to become a political independent because of what he sees as the Republican attack on his car, a 2012 Chevrolet Volt.“I check both cnn.com and fox.com multiple times daily,” Rowe says. “I’ve stopped checking fox.com due to the Fox News attacks on the Volt. It really makes me crazy. They are becoming blind zealots and shooting this country in the foot because they hate Obama.”For owners like Rowe, it’s not so much about being Green or saving money as it is about using cutting-edge technology to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.“My round-trip commute is 54 miles, so I fill up every two or three weeks,” he says, 600 to 700 miles between fill-ups. “I don’t really keep track.”A Motor Trend reader and loyal Republican who follows me on Twitter (@MT_Lassa) sent a brief item from the National Review that calls electric cars “pimped out golf-karts.” The piece noted that General Motors, “another well-connected stimulus-recipient … is having trouble selling its $41,000 Chevrolet Volt.” The National Review item disappointed this Republican, who considers the Volt a good potential choice for his 10-mile daily commute.At the Chicago Auto Show in February, GreenCarReports.com Editor John Voelcker and I split a group of about 30 Volt owners Chevrolet invited for tours. Chevy had no control over the content of our tours. John couldn’t make the New York event (a New York Times columnist did attend), but I got the chance to meet more owners of what must be the most political car in the history of the automobile. Unlike Rowe, most of these owners keep close track of their Volts’ numbers.Dan Kumm, who attended Chicago, owns an ‘11 Volt and a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. After a year of ownership, his Volt’s lifetime average was about 160 mpg. To date, he’s driven 13,500 of the car’s 17,000 miles on pure-electric power.Lynn Lowinger, from Metro Chicago, has driven her Volt up to 48 miles on a single charge, “but with warm weather coming, I hope to beat that.” After 3016 miles, she’s consumed about four gallons of premium unleaded and has never refilled the tank.“It is the only car my husband and I had this winter, and although I worried about its performance in the snow, it was fine.”“I drool over high-performance, advanced technology, dramatic styling, and state-of-the-art engineering, just like any other self-respecting gearhead does,” motorcycle journalist Moshe K. Levy, of New Jersey, says in an email (the medium of most these anecdotes). “And yet, when I was shopping for a new car in 2007, what turned all my usual ‘performance-first’ criteria on its head was an interview with the former CIA chief, Robert James Woolsey Jr., in the May 2007 issue of Motor Trend.”Woolsey, who was awaiting delivery on his own Volt when I spoke with him on another story last fall, believes saving fuel is more about national security than environmentalism. Levy bought a Toyota Prius. His father’s ’11 Volt has used 21.2 gallons of gas in 9,316 miles, for 440-lifetime mpg.Delta Airlines Captain Gordon Lichtenberg, of Cincinnati, bought his ’11 Volt after watching our Car of the Year video. He’s burned 30 gallons after 11,000 miles, for a 373-mpg lifetime average, though … “In the last 7,200 miles, I have used 7.4 gallons,” he says. “In the next 200 miles, it will be official; 1,000 mpg.”Bob Lutz pushed Chevrolet Volt technology after the failure of GM’s EV1 project. He introduced the concept at the 2007 Detroit auto show, the same year that President Bush signed the $7,500 federal tax credit for cars like the Volt and the Nissan Leaf, neither yet in production. Still, conservative media have some still believing President Obama forced GM to build the Chevy Volt after he bailed out the automaker in 2009.In New York, owners asked Chevy marketing chief Chris Perry why he doesn’t strike back at the conservative attacks.“You can’t do that,” Perry said, assiduously avoiding politics. He expects those politics to fade away quickly after the November elections.In the April 9 issue of The New Yorker, Steve Coll writes that ExxonMobil gave about 90 percent of its Political Action Committee money to the G.O.P. in the 2010 election cycle. Most corporate PACs, including Walmart’s, General Electric’s, Bank of America’s and Ford Motors’ gave about half of their contributions to Democrats, Coll writes.“The evolution of the country’s biggest and most powerful oil company into a finance arm of the Republican Party is a story of both energy economics and style,” Coll writes.This information led to an “a-ha!” moment. GM announced a partnership with Coskata, a biology-based renewable energy company, at the 2008 Detroit show, one year after the Chevy Volt concept reveal. While GM formed the Ethyl Corporation with Standard Oil of New Jersey, which became Exxon, the two haven’t been as friendly in recent years. An exec now long gone told me at the ‘08 show that “Big Oil” would rather thwart than cooperate with GM on alternative energy projects.Gasoline has a huge advantage over any new alternative, though. It’s cheap. That’s why governments have to consider subsidies to get new technologies off the ground. The federal tax rebate for electrified vehicles has cost us upwards of $75 million just for the Volt, so far. According to Coll in The New Yorker, the federal government hands out $4 billion in oil and gas subsidies per year.On April 16, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report that says that the average Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi i owner saves $750 to $1,250 per year on energy costs, depending on where the owner lives, and assuming $3.50 per gallon gas and 11,000 miles per year. With the same mileage and fuel costs, the average Chevy Volt owner saves $580 to $890 per yearSo it takes a long time to pay off a $40k+ Chevy, though price wasn’t a concern a decade ago when the brand was moving truckloads of well-equipped, high-margin Tahoe SUVs. Volt buyers aren’t stereotypical working class Chevy buyers. Rowe, the ad man, traded in a Volvo C70 for his Volt, and Lichtenberg, the airline captain, sold an ’04 Lexus GS 430 to buy his.“People think I am crazy when I tell them the Volt is, by far, the nicest car I have ever owned,” Lichtenberg says.None of these owners expect the Voltec technology to become mainstream anytime soon. If it does, you can bet they’ll have moved on to fuel cells, or whichever technology attracts early adapters in five or 10 years.Early adapters bought 7,671 Volts in 2011, just 3/4ths of Chevy’s first-year projections. In calendar 2000, Toyota sold 5,562 first-generation Priuses in the U.S., according to “The Standard Catalog of Imported Cars.” It would take the second-generation model, the ’04, to win our Car of the Year award. Last year, Toyota sold 136,463 in the U.S. It’s not a bestseller, though it is America’s bestselling hatchback.Coll’s New Yorker piece concludes by noting that Obama and ExxonMobil agree on one thing: we will be vulnerable to oil from unstable countries and cost spikes for many years to come. Though a combination of alternative powerplants and highly improved internal combustion engines should continue to cut gasoline consumption in cars and light trucks in the U.S. between now and 2040, truck, airplane and ship consumption will rise 60 percent globally, much of it in emerging countries.The Chevy Volt is one small, significant part of the solution to our foreign oil habit. It is GM’s solution, not Bush’s or Obama’s. If you don’t like the Volt, don’t buy one. I know people who will be back for seconds.

They're confused by the overheated rhetoric. (hee her.) In reality, the Fisker Karma fires are being confused with the Volt, especially since the Karma is also a range-extended electric car with a GM gasoline four-cylinder. thecarchat.net explains a lot of the myths about the Volt in its episode this week.

No, because Todd doesn't drive a Pri-US and never pulls a Clooney when making award acceptance speeches. You've got it all wrong X1. I believe he stated that the Volt-Passat matchup might work out well "if" he was in the income strata in which he could afford such. And Todd seemed most interested in saving money rather than tree hugging, m'kay . . .

Of course, you've completely missed the point, X1. My point is that the VW TDI is good for longer trips with its big tank and good highway fuel efficiency, while the Volt is a better commuter car. The Detroit Bureau's long-term Passat TDI has a $28k sticker, so it's about $15k less than a Volt, not counting the tax credit. So if you'd like to raise taxes, by eliminating the tax credit, on Volt buyers, where do you stand on the tax credit for oil drilling?

You sound like a whiny liberal living a real life version of South Park's Smug episode. $10 - - $15K more just so you and your wife can look in the mirror and think you're saving the planet? Not with my tax dollars. Make it $17.5 - $22.5 more and PAY FOR IT YOURSELF.

Tell me, why is it okay in your opinion for the Leaf to get the Bush tax credit but not the Volt?
One car is made in the US by American workers and the other is made in Japan. If you hate unions so much, why did you presumably buy union made Fords? Maybe you would have happier had President Bush stipulated that the tax credit would only apply to Japanese and German cars not made in the US.

You mean the pipeline that TransCanada wants build by using eminent domain? Stealing the private property of Americansnto build an oil pipeline to benefit a Canadian company? Sure sounds like another Koch brothers special.

In case you missed it, my point is that the Bush tax credit applies to cars made in the US and other places too and by union and by union plants. Your argument doesn't hold water. Next you'll tell us that Obama was in office when our economy blew up in 2008.

But obama is perpetuating the coal-powered Volt by wanting to offer $10K instead of $7500 in tax bribes...plus to keep his union guys happy...his administration has indicated the government will put them in the motor pool to keep them happy and "productive". To buy a Volt, take taxpayers' money, and then use three fossil fuels to run it doesn't make sense when gasoline is just one fossil fuel. If obama supported oil exploration that would help but he's on record against it (check out the news Keystone pipeline, etc.)

You think Leaf is the only car to get a tax bribe? Think again Ford Guy (which I've been for 50 years). The Chevy Volt is American....really it is! No kidding. To keep his fave car going, we all know he started out with $7500 tax "credit" or "bribe" whichever you prefer...now he wants $10K. But don't feel sorry for the unions, despite how they've handled GM...obama has guaranteed them employment by offering to put Volts in the government motor pool if they don't sell enough to keep the guys and gals "busy". But, Leaf is NOT the only car to get bribes or credits....they're not nation-specific.

Oil production may be high, but obama has vowed to slow it down, even giving away lots of cash to his solar panel campaign contributors. If you read the news, you know that he canceled the American Keystone Pipeline plan...telling Canada to give the oil to China. But, the fact still remains that hybrids use 2-3 fossil fuels---per vehicle. If that isn't "anti-green" what is?

Apparently you are, Splendo. You do know that the NHTSA-tested Chevy Volt only caught fire after it had been sitting in a salvage lot for two or three weeks after it had been crash-tested. NHTSA neglected to de-charge the battery pack, which would have been like emptying an internal combustion engine car's gas or diesel tank shortly after a crash.

The VW Passat is our Car of the Year this year, and the Detroit Bureau is lucky to have a TDI as our long-termer. We're averaging close to 40 mpg, mostly highway miles so far. If I was in the upper-middle-class strata and didn't have access to press cars, a VW Passat TDI 6M and a Chevy Volt (plus the Miata my wife and I have) would be the perfect 2-3-car family setup. The TDI for longer trips, the Volt for daily commutes. Of course, the Volt costs $10-15k more than our austere TDI, reversing the usual economic relationship between main car/commuter car.
As for the car dealership issue, I have covered it, but probably not to your satisfaction. On the other hand, I'd challenge you to find me 5% of the nation's dealers who'd describe themselves as Democrats. Auto dealers are the "small businessmen" the GOP speaks of often, and they spend a lot on state and local elections to make sure their rather protected franchise laws are upheld. These laws vary from state-to-state, but if you look at the number of dealerships GM/Ford/Chrysler have/had versus Toyota/Scion/Lexus, Honda/Acura and Nissan/Infiniti, you'd agree that many needed to be weeded out. Because of the "mom&pop" dealership objections, the domestics still have too many dealerships. That's my take.

Like most conservatives, facts don't seem to get in the way of your agenda. Oil production is the highest it has been in years. Mining puts lives at risk? More than the wars we're fighting? Let me guess, you think George W. Bush isn't responsible for the tax credits he signed into law.....

The future may be electrified vehicles, but the fact that they burn coal and natural gas and puts coalminers' lives at risk means I'll hold off. I know the tax bribe will help obama sell them, but as an American, I'll use gasoline for awhile. I do wish obama would allow oil pipelines to be built and Gulf drilling so we wouldn't have to be beholden to foreign oil. But the Volt does keep union workers employed which is our goal, right?

Right Todd,
Don't like it, won't buy one. Now a V W with TDI that will give the reliability of proven( cleaner )
Diesel tedhnology and the mileage of Prius, that's another matter. Oh by the way did you ever run a story on Republican donors who had Car Dealerships pulled out from under them during the Auto company bailout while Democrat donors didn't seem to be bothered?

Sure, it would be great if it were cheaper. But generally speaking, new technology is not cheap. These new battery packs aren't cheap and the software and thermal management system that goes along with these packs aren't cheap.
For what it is worth, a fully loaded Prius plug-in will be only a few thousand less than a Volt when you account for the tax credits on both cars.

Eventually the cost of energy will increase like never before. Because the billions of Indians and Chinesee are going to surpass our energy consumption. You can belittle energy conservation all you like, but one of these day we will have to find some other way to propell our vehicles. When gas costs 10, 20 bucks a gallon you will want some other way to drive your wheels!

Ford's new Focus Electric will be arriving at dealerships in a few months with a price tag of $39,995. It also will have a $7500 tax credit. It has a range of 76 miles.
Ford did not get any money from the federal government. Yet, Ford has decided to bring not only an electric Focus to the market but a plug-in Fusion is on its way this fall. More Ford electrics are on the way.
The complaints about GM and Volt have far more to do with conservatives trying to bash Obama and the federal government in any way they can (often using distortions of fact or outright lies) than they do about the fact they don't believe in electric cars.
The industry (and the market) has already spoken on this - the future is electrified vehicles, which will come in many different forms. From the Volt, to the plug-in Prius, to the Ford Fusion plug-in, to the Fisker Karma, to the Tesla Model S, to the Mitsubishi EV, to the BMW electric 1 Series, to the eAssist cars from GM - the industry is rapidly developing, adopting and deploying new technologies that will allow us to move away from our (and the rest of the world's) dependence on oil from the Middle East.
This is undeniably good for our national security and our economy. The "Infidels" and "mt411s" on this board are just venting their ideological and political frustrations on this board and using the Volt as a vehicle to express them - nothing more.

The sole claim that remains for the Volt is that it helps reduce oil imports.
...and according to Car & Driver, the Volt does not even do that if extended driving is done. As a matter of fact it gets worse MPG than a Cruze.

You obviously nothing about economics or politics anywhere. Australia is a free market economy with much less protection of industry than US For example our farmers are not protected by the huge subsidies the US parties of both persuasions give your agricultural industry.
We do realize there is a place for govt and have had a combined private and public health system for 40 years. The public insurance scheme is funded from the tax system but is supported by a private insurance scheme available to those that choose to take the option. ..and guess what after 40 years we haven't become socialists or communists even though Glenn Beck would have assumed it was a certainty.

I live in Colorado, Volts get up to $6000 in state income tax rebates, my credit union gives customers a lower loan rate on EVs. I can buy a Volt below MSRP by about 8-10% or well loaded for about $38K before tax credits or about $24.5K with Fed and State rebates. If driven 100K miles or more like all my other cars, I won't likely replace brakes as often, probably not replace exhaust sys parts, or water pump or serp belt, elec motors will last past life of ICE motor, battery pack will decline to about 70% capacity (Warranteed for 10 years) and can be used again to store elec produced from solar array by 2023. The future won't be what it used to be...Yogi??
Someone actually mentioned Long Term Cap Gains tax savings. Yep, since Pres Reagan LTCG tax rates have declined by 65%. History of Long Term Capital Gain top tax rates: Pres Reagan was first; he pushed congress to lower the rates followed by successive Presidents including Pres Clinton and then Pres GW Bush to current 15% max rate. How much did the LTCG rate decrease? A mere 65%, yet most of us did not see a comparable rate reductions on Earned Income. I agree LTCG ought to be lower than on earned income and short term gains to increase incentive to invest. The "Buffet" proposal; now dead in the US Senate, still provides the investment incentives. I suggest this is not inherently unfair to the wealthy to readjust tax rates on LTCG to rates paid in the 1980s-90s. Class warfare will not break out and investment incentive would remain healthy. Very wealthy tax increases on LTCG will not fix the US deficit, but symbolically provides some equity with moderate to high wage earners who pay higher rates on "earned income".

Vera04, yes, thanks. It didn't look right when I wrote it. I had breakfast with Lutz and spent several hours with with most of the key Volt engineers so my head still hurts from all the info I absorbed. Spending time with them was icing on the cake in understanding how amazing the Volt is. It takes much to impress me and they did just that.

Mustanglover, chill dude. I can handle only so much giggling when I read your posts. If you do insist on posting dribble then please don't stop with the humorous prose. You are on a roll, keep it up! Also, adding more color to your banality will entertain us even more. Peace.

No soup for you and you will never be allowed to teach history with your inability to read both the article and simply remember the past 5 years. I voted for GW Bush and he did indeed sign the tax bill allowing rebates.

mt411, There are over 10 million lines of software code in the Volt. It is a significant aspect of the car's design, engineering and thermal management system.
I suppose you would have been happier had the code been written by some Indians, right?

Alex, good comment but you can't reason with these folks.
They love their failed ideology more than they love America. They don't care about national security, they don't care about energy independence, they don't care about anything other than their blind allegiance to Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin, et al.
We had eight years of their polices and look where it got us - on the brink of another depression. Rather than reflect and say, geez, maybe some of this stuff doesn't work in practice, let's try something new, they are doubling down and become even crazier.

Infidel, and all right wingers... please forget about Obama and politics. Gentleman, the car is American using American technology and American electricity. Who gives a flying flip about Obama here. Hurting the car wont hurt Obama one bit. The US military is interested in energy independence because this is a matter of national security. National security means you mr. right and you mr. left. Means all of us. Make another freaking car like the Volt by the COP and call it the republican Electric mobile and I will freaking buy it too! Let's stick to the facts here. I am sending less money to Saudi Arabia for oil and more to Virginia for coal. Both are dirty, but one is American and the other not. Can you agree to support America? All the political BS discussed here is the stupid propaganda that the talking heads on TV push onto people. Today I am at 1000 miles since my last gas refill, have just burnt 5.2 gallons of gas driving those 1000 miles and it feels GREAT! Enough said.

Finally, it comes out. Let me guess, this has nothing to do with GM or the Volt. You think Obama = Hitler, he was born in Kenya, he is a Muslim and he is responsible for every complaint you have about America. On top of that he's a facist, or a communist and a socialist. He actually didn't graduate from Harvard or Columbia. He's the only president who's read from a teleprompter so that means he's stupid.
Yeah, now we all know where you're coming from Infidel.

Sure.
And it was GW Bush who suggested we increase the tax credit to $10,000 from the current $7,500.
No, wait a minute.
That was HRH Barak Hussein Obama.
But he was "against" the Volt they say.
Sure he was. That's a credible story.
Let's review: The US government tosses $13 Billion at GM, controls the Board, and along the way get's "overruled" on its recommendation to "cancel the Volt."
Oh, that's believable.
No, really. I'm sure every word is true. Because government's don't lie and newspapers always print the truth.
"Spin"? "Damage control"? What's that? Never heard of it.

Infidel, not sure exactly what you're responding to but your last post is indicative of what is typically said when when an argument is lost - nonsensical drivel.
I appreciate your very own George W. Bush signing into the law the tax credit I used to buy my first Volt and I'll enjoying using it again to buy my second. Thanks for the $15,000 - LOL.

Infidel, I note you haven't internalized the fact that the tax credits were approved by President Bush. Also, note the following post (excerpted from GOPEC's below). Lying about facts just comes too easy for you.
"In 2009, with the Volt already 90+% ready for production, Bob Lutz and the rest of GM’s leadership met with the Obama administration’s auto industry task force to negotiate the details of how GM would be restructured with government funding. Bob Lutz revealed recently that the White House actually advised them to *cancel the Volt program altogether*. There was no desire on President Obama’s part (at first… non-conservatives are intelligent enough to change an opinion in good faith, when presented with new information) to see them build this car."

@1975
Lol!
What?! No Volt?!?!
I am so confused?!?!?
Aren't you people the ones championing "Go green!!" technology?? Aren't you people the ones who believe Mother Earth is weeping from the terror of the internal combustion engine?? And what about all the drowning Polar Bears!?!?! Oh, the shame!! The SHAME!!!
Freakin' left-wing whacko phony.

Excerpts from Washington Post, April 1, 2009:
US Plays Key Role in Naming GM Board
The president said Monday that "the United States government has no interest in running GM." But in practice it is already exerting tremendous influence over it, a situation that has triggered fierce debate over how much power the government should wield over the companies that it aids.
"There will be continuing coordination as decisions about the leadership of the company are made," a White House official said yesterday.
"There's a new CEO and new chairman of the board," said Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.). "The government will play an active role as with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other institutions with a major investment from taxpayers." "It's clear they want this restructuring accelerated with the corporation taking a leading role," Levin said.
Even before Wagoner's ouster and the nomination of Kresa, the government has been taking steps, large and small, to shape the operation of General Motors.
"Obviously, the government has a voice as an investor," said Charles Elson, head of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "But it's not like the government speaks as one voice among many. It becomes the overwhelming voice."
How long are you liberal morons going to continue to live in denial that the Obama Administration pressured GM into building the Volt?

Infidel, if you true to your word, then give up your mortgage interest deduction, your lower rate on cap gains, your deductions for children and dependents and your tax deduction for your health insurance premiums. There are tax deductions and tax breaks that benefit every sector of the economy.
You refuse to address why it was ok for Bush to bailout Wall Street in 2008 because you presumably agree with it.
Is there something deeper behind your insult - "like a monkey trying to dry hump a football" - not an image that immediately pops to mind on a normal day.

What is this nonsense?
Are you honestly attempting to equate the Chevy Volt, a $40,000 family car designed to be produced and sold in mass, with a $2 Million Bugatti Veyron, a hand-built halo suerpcar that is designed to showcase VW's gee-whiz go-fastest technology?
Get serious.
And the idea that GM is "flooding the market with Volts at a loss" to stimulate demand is complete hooey. You may have read something about GM being BANKRUPT a short time ago and requiring a taxpayer rescue?
Do you really believe that same company is now in a financial position to intentionally produce a vehicle upon which it LOSES thousands of dollars on every one it produces in the hopes that "someday over a rainbow" the American consumer might buy enough of them that GM might recover it's losses?
And trying to equate the Volt to an X-Box is even more ridiculous. Microsoft makes its money on software and monthly subscription fees. Tell me, Infidel in Training Wheels, does GM sell a monthly subscription for the Volt?

No matter how many times its said, you guys still can't accept it. These tax credits were approved and signed off by President George W. Bush in 2008. Tax credits have been in place for alternative fuel vehicles for many years, including for the Prius through 2005-2006.
Sorry, saying a lie enough times doesn't make it true.

@SuperDork
You do know that GM lost upwards of $1 BILLION on the disaster known as the EV1? And it was stellar management decisions like the one to produce the EV1 that lead GM into bankruptcy.
Ooops. I guess that fact is one that you conveniently forgot.
There is a big difference between having an experimental product under development and having a final product that is ready to compete in the free market. The Volt, just like the EV1, was not ready for prime time.
What you and the other liberal simpletons cannot grasp is that the technology is only half of the equation. The other half--the only half that really matters in the final analysis--is figuring out the economics. Can you make a product that is compellingly competitive and sell it at a profit?
And, it is an undeniable mathematical FACT that the economics of the Volt simply do not work. The math doesn't work for GM because it looses thousands of dollars on every Volt it produces.
The math doesn't work for the consumer because the consumer quickly determined he/she can buy a car that costs half as much that delivers similar energy economy.
And the math sure as hell doesn't work for the taxpayers who are getting stuck spending $7,500 in tax credits for every Volt sold--not too mention the BILLIONS already wasted on rescuing GM from insolvency.
Now SuperDork. Time to put your money where your mouth is. You believe in the Volt. You think the Volt is the Holy Grail. And you believe we have National Duty to produce and support it. So tell us...
Did you part with your $40,000 to buy one?
Lol.
Freakin' left-wing hypocritical NIMBY.